Brey named director of internal audit

Barbara Brey has been named to the newly created position of director of internal audit.

In this position, Brey will work with all departments to identify risks to the university — regulatory, reputational, financial and others — and move to counteract them.

“There’s a very broad range of risks that we can identify,” Brey said.

“As compliance becomes ever more complex, the decision was made to split compliance from internal audit and bring it back in-house,” said Deb Thomas, senior associate vice chancellor of business and finance. “Barb Brey’s experience and knowledge will be vital in the implementation of this new role.”

Brey will work with university leadership on every level to identify risks and put an audit plan together to assess the controls that are in place to mitigate those risks.

“If issues are identified, we will implement mitigation strategies through education, refining procedures and working together to add value and improve the university’s operations,” Brey said.

Brey has a business degree with an accounting emphasis from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She previously was the manager of internal audit and corporate tax at The Nebraska Medical Center. Before that, she worked with KPMG in the audit sector, eventually becoming senior manager for the firm’s audit practice.

“I’d like to bring a pro-active approach to monitoring and mitigating risk to the university,” Brey said.

Brey also hopes to work with other universities within the University of Nebraska system to map out opportunities for synergy and collaboration.

“I really see that as an area that we can work on,” she said.

Similarly, she hopes to embrace UNMC’s partnership with Nebraska Medicine.

“Change is hard and difficult for everyone, but I see an opportunity and a challenge to see what we can do there for synergies,” she said.

The important thing is to make the UNMC-Nebraska Medicine experience seamless for the patient, she said.